Council reappoints city attorney Susan Segal

City attorney Susan Segal was reappointed Friday with the support of all but two council members, who voiced concerns with her legal opinion that help solidify the controversial Vikings stadium deal.

Segal has served in the role since Mayor R.T. Rybak’s appointment in 2008. She came to City Hall after many years in the private sector focusing on employment law and a stint with the Hennepin County Attorney’s office under now-Sen. Amy Klobuchar.

“She could be working anywhere else, making 10 times the money and not dealing with half of the grief she has to deal with here,” said Council Member Lisa Goodman, one of 11 supporters of Segal’s reappointment.

The council’s crucial stadium swing vote, Sandy Colvin Roy, cited that opinion as a major reason why she reversed course and supported the project.

“I wish that that had been handled better,” said council member Cam Gordon, who opposed the reappointment. “I think it’s really important, especially when we have really difficult and challenging decisions, to get the best, most neutral, most detached legal advice that we possibly can. And I’m not sure that we got that in that instance.”

New Council Member Alondra Cano said she was voting for the reappointment because she wanted to be able to work with Segal on a number of issues.

“I do not feel like I need to hold anyone hostage to the Vikings stadium decision,” Cano said. “I think that was of the previous council and I will not drag that into this particular decision.”

The other ‘no’ vote, council member Blong Yang, said reappointment votes should not be based on future relationships. “I’d like to say a yes or no vote should just mean a good relationship in the future anyway,” Yang said.

Council Member Elizabeth Glidden highlighted Segal’s worth early in her tenure defending the city’s ranked-choice voting system, as well as efforts to reform pensions.

Mayor Betsy Hodges, who opposed the stadium as a council member, said Segal has found innovative ways to reduce crime in the city. She cited a domestic violence prosecution partnership, youth violence prevention initiatives and the Downtown 100 program.

“Having that kind of innovation, creativity and forward thinking in the city attorney is not something every city gets, but our city has benefited from for years,” Hodges said.

Days after a U.S. Congress vote that potentially allows internet providers to sell customers' browsing data, Minnesota lawmakers have pushed back with votes to tighten privacy protections within the state.

Minneapolis police said they have linked two weekend shootings, which left residents frightened and sent some diving to the floor to avoid stray bullets, to an early-morning homicide last week that left a father of two dead on the city's North Side.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said his biggest regret as the county's top prosecutor was using grand juries to investigate the shootings of civilians by police, admitting that the process lacked transparency.